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Preview: Providence has been a thorn in the Wisconsin Badgers' side

Wisconsin Badgers look for their fourth holiday tournament title in five years when it plays in the Rady Children's Invitational in San Diego.
Benjamin Worgull|
Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd (2) drives past Southern Illinois-Edwardsville forward Arnas Sakenis (34) during the second half of their game Monday, November 17, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsvillen 94-69.
Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd (2) drives past Southern Illinois-Edwardsville forward Arnas Sakenis (34) during the second half of their game Monday, November 17, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsvillen 94-69. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Searching for its first power-conference win and first victory away from home this season, Wisconsin faces Providence in the semifinals of the Rady Children's Invitation in San Diego.

UW (4-1) has won nine of its last 10 non-conference November tournament games, going 3-0 in the 2021 Maui Invitational, 2-1 in the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2-0 in the 2023 Fort Myers Tip-Off, and 2-0 in the Greenbrier Tip-Off.

Here is a look at both teams and a prediction for tonight's contest.

Providence (4-2, 0-0 Big East) vs. Wisconsin (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Thursday, November 27, 4:30 p.m.
Arena – Jenny Craig Pavilion
TV – FS1 (Cory Provus and Donny Marshall)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Chris Vosters and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (217-118 in his 11th season). Kim English at Providence (37-36 in his third season; 71-65 overall).
Series – Providence leads 5-1 (Wisconsin leads 1-0 in neutral sites)
Point Spread – Wisconsin -6.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 19.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.4 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 7.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.6 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 9.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.0 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 14.2 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 8.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.0 apg)
5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 3.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.6 apg)
13 Hayden Jones (6-6 Freshman Guard)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 2.6 apg)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.8 apg)
Player to watch
Winter had his sixth-career double-double against BYU, notching 14 points and 14 rebounds. It's his third double-double of the season, joining just four other Big Ten players with three-plus.

Providence probable starters

1 Jason Edwards (6-1 Graduate Guard, 19.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 4.0 apg)
2 Jaylin Sellars (6-5 Graduate Guard, 16.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.7 apg)
7 Stefan Vaaks (6-7 Freshman Guard, 14.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.7 apg)
11 Ryan Mela (6-7 Sophomore Guard, 10.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.7 apg)
55 Oswin Erhunmwunse (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 7.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Off the bench
5 Jamier Jones (6-6 Freshman Forward, 9.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)
13 Cole Hargrove (6-8 Senior Forward, 1.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)
14 Corey Floyd Jr. (6-4 Senior Guard, 11.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.4 apg)
Player to watch
Edwards has scored 20 or more points in three of the team's six games. His scoring is third in the Big East and his assist/turnover ratio (6.0) is second.

Series notes

Wisconsin and Providence have met six times in school history, with the first meeting coming in 1961 in the ECAC Holiday Festival in New York City.

The Badgers won the first meeting, 95-84, but have lost the five meetings without scoring more than 62 points.

Wisconsin is 104-94 against teams currently in the Big East, with 131 of the matchups coming against Marquette.

The Friars have posted a 40-37 mark all-time versus teams from the Big Ten, including a victory over Penn State last Saturday.

Wisconsin notes

Under Gard, the Badgers are 16-0 all-time when they score 90+ points, including a 3-0 record this season.

After posting the second-best free throw percentage in NCAA history of 82.6 percent last year, UW currently ranks 16th nationally and second in the Big Ten with a 79.8 percentage from the line.

Wisconsin is averaging 11.2 3-pointers per game, which ranks second in the Big Ten and 23rd nationally. The Badgers lead the Big Ten in 3-point attempts, averaging 33.0 attempts per contest.

Blackwell's had three career 30-point games, including the season opener against Campbell. That is tied with eight other players for eighth most in school history. One more 30-point game would tie Blackwell with Ethan Happ and Claude Gregory for sixth.

Providence notes

With 10 newcomers and five returnees on the roster this season, Providence was picked fourth in the preseason media poll.

Through the first six games, Providence is averaging 93.2 points per game, which is the second highest ppg mark in the team's first six games in the program's history (1990-91, 99.2 ppg).

Erhunmwunse leads the Big East in blocks with 24 through six games.

Vaaks leads the Friars in three-point shooting having connected on a team-best 17 made threes on 44 attempts (38.6 percent).

Prediction

When Wisconsin last saw Providence two years ago, the Friars crashed the rim and drew fouls (23) that resulted in free throws (27). The Friars – shooting just 29.6 percent as a team from the perimeter through two games – took advantage of open looks generated by slow rotations and missed assignments to go 6-for-10 from the perimeter in the early goings. UW's offense didn't match the physicality and went 4-for-21 in the opening 11 minutes.

It sounds familiar to what the Badgers experienced on Friday against a BYU team that bated them into lower-percentage shots and picked a part a Wisconsin defensive effort that wasn't up to snuff.

This Friars team has a little different makeup. Edwards and Sellars - two power-conference transfers from Vanderbilt and UCF, respectively - are the central focuses of the offense, with Vaaks seeing his role grow. Labeled a dynamite shooter with size, he averaged 18 points on 38.9 percent shooting (7-for-18) from three-point range in the opening two games of the season to earn the conference's freshman of the week honor.

Only Erhunmwunse and Hargrove are listed over 6-7 in the rotation, which is why the Friars have shown early this season that they will push the ball. Providence's adjusted tempo is 73.4 possessions in 40 minutes, ranking 24th nationally by KenPom and 110 spots higher than BYU.

"It's different in terms of how they create their pace and what they do offensively," Gard said. "The guard play is really good ... They are going to play hard. They are really going to come after you."

Wisconsin typically schedules aggressively in the nonconference season to get exposed like it did on Friday. That's partially what happened two years ago when the Badgers lost at home No.9 Tennessee before traveling to Rhode Island as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Shortly thereafter, UW won the Fort Myers Tip-Off with victories over No.24 Virginia and SMU.

"You want to play a reasonable amount of these type of games early in the season," Gard said. "It's still November. We have a lot of track in front of us in terms of our season. You don't get too high if things go really well or too low if things don't go well. You're constantly using these situations to improve.

"You look at some of these other games going on, really good teams are getting blown out of the water. it's going to happen at some point in time. Hopefully ours is behind us in terms of when you don't play well against a really good team."

Gard hopes Friday's result expedited his group's growth and learning in order to take another step forward. There's only one way to find out.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 8
Worgull's Prediction: 5-0 (2-3 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 48 (9.6 ppg)

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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